# Additionality

*ESG & Sustainable Finance — Finicade finance glossary*

Additionality asks whether an outcome would have happened anyway without your money. It's the hardest and most important question in both carbon markets and impact investing, because it requires proving a counterfactual. Failing it is what turned a large share of forestry offsets into paper reductions, and it's the reason primary capital into new projects is treated as more credible than secondary market purchases.

**Also known as:** additional impact, counterfactual test

**Related terms:** [Impact Investing](https://finicade.com/glossary/impact-investing), [Carbon Credit](https://finicade.com/glossary/carbon-credit), [Renewable Energy Certificate](https://finicade.com/glossary/renewable-energy-certificate), [Green Bond](https://finicade.com/glossary/green-bond), [Greenwashing](https://finicade.com/glossary/greenwashing)

Source: https://finicade.com/glossary/additionality